John Longmire not happy with Alastair Clarkson over meeting with Gillon McLachlan
THE once-watertight friendship between John Longmire and Alastair Clarkson has exploded again after the Sydney coach blasted his Hawthorn counterpart for snitching on the Swans.
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THE once-watertight friendship between John Longmire and Alastair Clarkson has exploded again after the Sydney coach blasted his Hawthorn counterpart for snitching on the Swans to the boss of the AFL.
Clarkson organised a secret breakfast with AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan in Melbourne on Monday morning where he allegedly formalised claims he made after last Friday night’s loss to Sydney — that the Swans were “getting away with blue murder” in defence this season.
Longmire is livid at Clarkson for requesting the meeting and attempting to heap pressure on AFL administrators, and although he doesn’t blame McLachlan for attending, he contacted the CEO for a please explain about what was said.
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As teammates at North Melbourne for eight seasons, Longmire and Clarkson were the tightest of teammates and their families were close.
However, it was widely speculated that their relationship was tested a couple of seasons ago when the Swans poached superstar forward Lance Franklin for Hawthorn, a master signing that Clarkson struggled to get over.
Longmire said he had been exchanging text messages with Clarkson and then in a passionate press conference, he accused his former teammate of rank hypocrisy for daring to question Sydney’s defensive tactics.
Clarkson reportedly sat down for breakfast with McLachlan armed with replays on his laptop to showcase his point as to why Sydney’s defence should have free kicks blown against them, and Longmire pulled no punches as he described the tattling as inappropriate.
“Absolutely I was (shocked). Particularly when you look at what Hawthorn do,” said Longmire.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s an important part of the game that Hawthorn are very, very good at. And it depends what lens you look through what the outcome can be.
“We’ve had a couple of exchanges and we can probably agree to disagree on this one.
“We’ve all got passionate thoughts on the game and there’s a time and a place to have those discussions, but when you’re in the heat of a season and particularly after a loss, I just don’t think it’s appropriate. The way he did that and kept following it up is unnecessary and unwarranted.”
Longmire said he applauded the approachability of McLachlan, that the AFL chief would agree to meetings with coaches at the drop of a hat.
However, he said Clarkson had a hide to make such a request and go through vision with the chief executive mid-season.
“I spoke to Gil and asked what it was about. But it’s got nothing to do with Gil,” he said.
“Gil didn’t know what the chat was about. And I guess if any coach is going to speak to the CEO I think that’s fantastic the CEO’s door is open … But I just think maybe the topics and how they were looked upon (by dobbing in) not just our players I understand but players from other clubs is just probably not the time or place to do it.
“Look, it (the blue murder call) was a strange comment from Alastair considering the previous three times they beat us by a kick nothing was said,” he said.
“When you just look at what Hawthorn do, they do exactly the same thing.
“It’s just a bit unusual he can comment on other teams and make assertions on other teams and what they do and then you think to yourself that your team does everything absolutely perfectly right.”
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